Jurassic Era

The Rock Band extraordinaire

By Gerry Harris

(Reprinted with kind permission of GME)

Jurassic Era, better known as ‘The Jurassics’, were formed in 1975 by three students at the Royal College of Mines, South Kensington. The original members were:

  • Don Urban Edwardes-Newton (Lead Guitar, Vocals)
  • Jeff Morden (Drums, percussion)
  • Al Garrett (Bass Guitar, Vocals)

They were all studying Geology, hence the name of the band, and the reason for a geological theme running through names of their albums. They initially did college and local gigs in the evenings as an outlet for their musical talents and a way of making the student grant go further.

Don’s name, famously called ‘extensive’ by Al in an early interview with Time Out, meant a nickname was needed and the one that stuck early on was Dune. Later the band said it was due to Don’s long term love of the novels by Frank Herbert, but the truth was it owed more to Don’s frequent and multiple conquests from College days onward, and a spontaneous session of giggles all three shared when a staid professor commented on ‘a nice bit of dune bedding’ in a geology lecture. On graduating in 1977 they gave themselves one year to make it in the music industry. Their mix of heavy rock and dreamlike interludes was compared with Pink Floyd but their early work was said to lacked depth. Early in 1978 Daniel Cardosa, a black musician from Cape Verde via Lisbon and London joined them as the keyboard player. They gave him rock, he gave them African and Latin rhythms and result is history.

Their first album, ‘Seismic Discontinuity – (IRL, 1978 & EMR, 1979)’, was released early in 1978 on IRL and became a worldwide hit through Indie and underground sales. At the end of 1978 they were signed by the EMR label and 1979 and 1980 saw the first world tour, playing to sell out arenas across Europe, North America and Australia.

They returned to the studio in 1981 and produced the thunderous Bedrock (EMR, 1981) album. The title track filled one side of the album, with heavy rock guitar building into African drum and keyboard rhythms, then the pure bliss of Dune making the guitar sing and cry. The Bedrock tour of 1983 was the most hectic covering North and South America, Europe, Far East and Australia / New Zealand. It was a sell out and their album sales topped the charts across the world.

From 1984 to 1989 they rested on their success, setting up their own record label, BabeRock, to promote undiscovered artists, and finally bringing out the ‘Pyroclastic Flow – (BabeRock, 1989)’ double album just before Christmas 1989. With the icon image of the Mayon Volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1984 on the cover, shops opened at midnight to meet the demand from fans, or ‘The Followings’ as they preferred to be known. The tour started in June 1990 having been delayed to perfect the light and video show that gave the audience the sensation of being in a volcanic eruption, complete with seismic floor shaking effects. But the delay allowed them to add the newly free Eastern European states like Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. Their concert in St Petersberg caused a riot as ticket numbers were reduced by the organisers fearing the seismic effects would collapse the stadium. By the time the tour wound up late in 1992 it was the biggest grossing rock tour ever. The tour went back on the road in 1995 to play a series of dates in newly open South Africa and a special free concert in Cape Verde dedicated to Daniel’s mother who had died the previous year. The new phase of the tour lead to Daniel Cardosa being proclaimed the greatest African born musician.

It was a further 2 years before the last album, ‘Recumbent Fold - (BabeRock, 1998)’ was ready. It was released 1998 and while it had its fair share of heavy rock, the three CD format allowed them to include more relaxed, dreamlike tracks and sequences. The Followings either loved it or hated it, with the majority hating the softer sequences, and a shortened version, excluding most of the softer music was released by the end of 1998 and immediately took their sales to new heights.

The tour started in 1999 and included millennium special concerts in Sydney, Cape Town and Buenos Aires. These included much of the original, ‘softer’ material and finally ‘The Followings’ got it and the original cut of ‘The Fold’ was hurried back to the presses.

The Tour wound up in 2001 with the Band telling ‘The Followings’ they needed to rest and recharge. Individually the band members appeared in many tributes, concerts and collective performances. Through the early years of 21st century all band members did collaborations, none as successful as ‘Mountains – (BabeRock, 2002)’ between Dune and Sierra High. The accompanying video was widely believed to be of them in the actual act of making love, something that neither ever denied.

Then disaster struck in 2003 when an executive jet, chartered by Don / Dune depressurised heading south over the Caribbean. Brazilian fighters were scrambled to intercept but saw the crew slumped over controls. Shortly afterwards the jet ran out of fuel and plunged into the Atlantic. Dune and the crews’ bodies were recovered together with those of two young women, a point picked on by the press with headlines like ‘Naked Babes die with Dune’.

Since then the Jurassics have not appeared or recorded music as a band, although recent rumours suggest they may return to the studio with an as yet unnamed replacement for the iconic Dune.